So anyways, I’ve actually noticed this Mercury Retrograde. Usually I don’t- except when I see the inevitable front page news telling us about a major system outage by a Bank or an Airline. I’ve decided that neither banks nor airlines refer to the retrograde calendar when scheduling maintenance changes. Oh well.
No, this time I’ve noticed it personally. It’s been a few weeks of appointment changing, crossed wires, mixed messages. Don’t get me wrong- I’ve gone with the flow, so it hasn’t been anything more than mildly inconvenient….but you get the idea.
The other thing that’s been different this time round is that I haven’t been able to write.
I was ok during the first week- I had a structural edit to get finished. Mercury retrogrades are great for editing. I’ve had the last couple of weeks, though, earmarked for some serious drafting of my next novel. I’ve been sitting at the same word count on this one for months, unable to move forward. I’m still no further along.
It’s not as if I’ve done no writing at all- last weekend I managed to get a post scheduled for every planetary and sign change between now and Christmas. The final Tuesday Toolboxes are also written and scheduled- as are a couple of Tuesday Talkbacks… All I have to do before I get on that plane in just over a month is write and schedule some lunation posts. As I said last week, while I’m away, I won’t be writing any astro at all.
I’d hoped that freeing my mind of those responsibilities might have helped clear some space for the fiction words. Nope.
A few people on the romance writing forums that I belong to suggested that it’s because I don’t know my characters well enough. Maybe I don’t understand their goals and challenges and conflicts as well as I should? Hmmm. Possibly. The thing is, I rarely understand these things at this point of a book- I come to understand it as it’s drafted and everything takes shape.
No, the problem is that I have a new and very shiny idea sitting in the background. I’m calling it Finding John Smith- aka The Football Book (and when I say football, I’m referring to soccer). This idea was born during the February retrograde, so I suspect it won’t go away until I actually do some work on it. I wrote a bit about it the other day on and anyways, and spent some productive pre-meeting time researching bits and pieces during the week. As an aside, I hate when people are late to teleconferences- especially when I never am. Just saying.
What else? Also on and anyways I’m popping up some previously unpublished Bali photos. Last weekend was some shots from around Pura Batukau– a temple in the central mountains. The previous week was the most amazing ricefields you’ll ever see. There’s a few more to go up over the next few weeks- and then I’ll be into my British trip!
Naturally, there was also the usual Friday Five round-up of the week that was.
Here on the astro site, we had the Tuesday Toolbox. If my calculations are correct, I think there’s one more post in the chart shapes to go before we get stuck into natal Moon phases.
Ok, to the week ahead.
We’re now in the balsamic phase, or dark of the Moon. This is that period each month where the best thing you can do is clean something up, clean something out, finish something off or let something go. It’s the wiping of the celestial blackboard to allow you to write something new on it.
The New Moon is on Tuesday morning (my time…so probably Monday night yours). There’ll be something up tomorrow re this…and a newsletter out to subscribers as well- if I can think of anything to put in it.
Leading into that are a pair of aspects: Jupiter trine Pluto, and Sun opposite Uranus.
The first of these is a great one for influencing outcomes- making things happen. The key, though, is firstly in recognising it as such, and secondly in ensuring that the outcomes that you’re interested in influencing will benefit more than just yourself. There’s always a catch.
As for Sun opposite Uranus? This one can be a little more potentially problematic. There’s a restlessness and potential for surprise associated with this that can, if you don’t use it well, lead to mishaps. It’s a great one for being brought face to face with what it is that you really really want and who you really really want to be…although often this comes out of a situation where it’s easier to identify the opposite!
With these forming the backdrop to the Libra New Moon, you might want to consider how it is that your relationships can help or hinder you in this process of realisation.
The following days Mercury sextile Saturn will help you plan and communicate this.
Moving through to the end of the working week, Mars trine Pluto is about putting some positive and practical energy behind the changes and transformations that you’re keen to make. With the earth signs involved (Virgo and Capricorn) this is Mars in step by step mode- not bull at a gate stuff.
A conjunction between Mars and Jupiter on Sunday brings this weeks aspects almost full circle. This one is over the top energy, so use it wisely…ie towards something….no matter how tempting it could be to do the down the slope- one ski and no poles- thing. I’m thinking I might just plan me a nice long coast walk.
Oh, I nearly forgot- Venus opposite Neptune on Saturday. This one takes that which you decided you wanted at the beginning of the week, and dissolves it into something else. It could also be a recognition that you’re sacrificing or losing yourself to another, or that not everything that glitters is gold.
It could be an opportunity to reconcile these perceptions with reality…or it could just be a good day for daydreaming and writing a romance novel where all of this happens to someone who doesn’t exist outside of your own head…or is that just me?